Single-beat noninvasive imaging of ventricular endocardial and epicardial activation in patients undergoing CRT.

Abstract

BackgroundLittle is known about the effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on endo- and epicardial ventricular activation. Noninvasive imaging of cardiac electrophysiology (NICE) is a novel imaging tool for visualization of both epi- and endocardial ventricular electrical activation.Methodology/principal findingsNICE was performed in ten patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) undergoing CRT and in ten patients without structural heart disease (control group). NICE is a fusion of data from high-resolution ECG mapping with a model of the patient's individual cardiothoracic anatomy created from magnetic resonance imaging. Beat-to-beat endocardial and epicardial ventricular activation sequences were computed during native rhythm as well as during ventricular pacing using a bidomain theory-based heart model to solve the related inverse problem. During right ventricular (RV) pacing control patients showed a deterioration of the ventricular activation sequence similar to the intrinsic activation pattern of CHF patients. Left ventricular propagation velocities were significantly decreased in CHF patients as compared to the control group (1.6±0.4 versus 2.1±0.5 m/sec; pConclusions/significanceEndocardial and epicardial ventricular activation can be visualized noninvasively by NICE. Identification of individual ventricular activation properties may help identify responders to CRT and to further improve response to CRT by facilitating a patient-specific lead placement and device programming.